


Sal Fisher: First Steps

by FoxxyGold



Category: Sally Face (Video Games)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Crying, Ghosts, Multi, Nightmares, Other, Panic Attacks, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-06 23:20:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17354546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoxxyGold/pseuds/FoxxyGold
Summary: Vicious nightmares have plagued your mind relentlessly ever since you moved into the Addison Apartments, but both your pals are there to comfort you no matter what.





	Sal Fisher: First Steps

**Author's Note:**

> If you'd like to check out more of my work, go to the front page of my profile and read my bio and check out the link to my deviantart.

It had to be no later than four in the morning when you were roused out of bed due to frequent nightmares that began to plague your gentle mind when you moved into the Addison apartments. What scared you the most when you woke was there wasn’t anything you could remember about the dream. Ever since you had stepped through the main doors of the Addison apartments you had felt off, like nothing about anything was correct. As you lay in your bed struggling to catch your breath, the damp air in the room felt like a heavyweight, endlessly pushing down on your chest making it a fight just to gasp for air. You rolled over onto your side and carefully pushed yourself up, your feet meeting the floor of the cheap carpet that was laid out all over the building. Looking down, you could see the collar of your nightshirt was drenched in sweat from the warm air and possible tossing and turning you could only assume had taken place in the midst of whatever had shaken you so badly to wake you.   
  
 As you stood from the bed and shuffled over to your dresser, you fumbled through whatever lean clothes were still folded and put away neatly. It was way past due for laundry to be done, but when things got too hard during the day, the only thing that would cure the never-ending emptiness in your heart was a decent nap which almost always lasted way longer than you ever intended it too. Finally finding a matching pair of clothes and some clean underwear, you walked into the bathroom and set the pile of clothes on the counter and grabbed the clean towel off the door rack to set it near the way-too-small tub. Turning on the water, you stuck your hand under it and waited for it to warm before undressing, tossing the dirty clothes in the middle of the floor before climbing in and allowing the warm water to run over your tensed nerves.  
  
 Everything was going to be okay; you just had to remind yourself that. Leaning back and closing your eyes, you let the hot water soak into your hair, and allowed it to press and stick to your skin. Closing your eyes and enjoying the sound of the running water, a sense of calm was finally able to crash over your body. Sleep was beginning to flood your system again and you felt at ease like nothing was going to go bad. It wasn’t too long before the feeling faded.   
  
 All of a sudden the room felt colder, despite the hot running shower. Was someone breathing behind you? It felt like a pair of beady eyes was staring daggers into your back, and there was nothing you could do. This wasn’t the first time you have had this feeling. It happened when you were in the elevator by yourself or when you were at the end of a scarily vacant hallway, but now you felt completely and utterly defenseless. What good could you do, naked and soaking wet, with nothing to cover you but a shower curtain? Soon enough the threatening cold chill on your spine was gone and you could finish your shower.  
  
 Rushing to finish and get dressed, you felt hot tears of anxiety and fear burn in your eyes. You dressed hurriedly, not even bothering to dry off your hair or style it in a way to keep it out of your face, you raced over to your phone and curled up in the corner of your bedroom, turning the light on and keeping your eyes open and watchful in all directions. The person whom you had dialed took a while to pick up, they sounded tired, and of course, they had every right to be. You quickly glanced over to read your clock, the red numbers displayed a crude shaped “1:32 am” and you felt the pit of your stomach churn. How could you, of all people, burden your friends with problems that were probably nothing compared to others?  
  
 “_____? What the hell are you waking me up so early for dude?”   
  
 They were only met with silence at the end of their question. You dug your nails into the palm of your free hand, trying to reduce the anxiety by distracting yourself with some form of pain. Hot tears shredded their way down the sides of your face as you opened your mouth, yet was unable to say anything. You couldn’t do this too them. You weren’t going to make them suffer because of you. You kept your mouth shut and fought with all of your might to speak in a tone where it sounded like nothing was wrong. The only way it came out was in a sob choking whisper.  
  
 “I’m so sorry.. Never mind,” you whispered into the phone, fighting with yourself to hang up. A gentle sigh could be heard on the other end and there was a lack of response for a few minutes.  
  
 “Listen, ____.. You had another one of those freakish; can’t-remember-dreams didn’t ya?” You nodded your head on the other end of the phone before only humming a response a couple of seconds later when realizing your receiver was unable to see you. No longer focused on keeping your eyes wide open on the whole room, you focused on the opposite corner of where you were sitting while listening to your friend. Another sigh came from them on the other side of the phone before one last response came.  
  
 “I’ll go grab Sal and wake him up before bringing him over, alright? We’ll be there in 10 minutes, everything will be okay,” came a tired, yet hopeful response. You let out a sudden sob while exclaiming ‘thank you’ before both parties hung up the phone. You were quick to head out into the main living room which was attached to the open kitchen. Paranoia scratching at the heels of your brain, you were quick to turn on all the lights to every room you could see. The hallway light was on, thankfully your parent’s room was closed shut and they were dead asleep, unbothered by the little movie of emotions you were going through. The kitchen light was on, and last, the living room light was on. You were quick to turn your light off but close the door, making sure none of the imaginary demons could get you if there were any in the room.  
  
 Throwing yourself onto the couch that was pressed up against the wall beside the apartment front door; you turned the TV on and put on some kid cartoons that were running. You made sure to keep the volume at a decent level that wasn’t loud enough to rouse your parents but loud enough for you to hear and put yourself at ease. After watching cartoons for a solid twenty minutes, you felt a little more at ease again, though your adrenaline was still pumping you and keeping you on alert. When the soft knocking came at your door, you got up from the couch carefully and looked around, making sure nothing was out to get you before turning your back to the open apartment and unlocking the door to let your friends in.  
  
 Smiling nervously, you rubbed your tear stained cheeks and puffy eyes before opening the door large enough for your friends to come in. First was Sal Fisher, the blue-haired boy who loved to wear his hair in pigtails and wore a prosthetic mask. Though his face was unreadable, the two large pillows and blankets he was dragging along with him and the slouched posture gave away how exhausted he must have been. Beside him stood Larry Johnson with a goofy smile on his face, he had been the one you called. You were still warming up to Sal, and to be quite honest you weren’t one hundred percent sure if the guy had a cell phone or if you were on a good enough friend level to share numbers yet. As you stepped to the side, to let them in, they took up seats on the couch and made themselves at home. You suddenly shuffled your way quickly back over to them, fretting over them like you had invited them over for a house party.  
  
 “Do you guys need anything to drink? Any snacks? We can watch anything you guys want but don’t turn the volume up too high or my parent/s will wake up and then they’ll be upset,” you muttered nervously. Larry just mustered up a tired chuckle before shaking his head slowly, you took a quick glance at Sal who just closed his eyes and shook his head in the same manner. Larry gave a small yawn before waving you over to take the empty seat between him and Sal.   
  
 Taking the seat between them, you were quickly smothered in warm blankets, Sal and Larry both doing their best to wrap you up in a blanket burrito with the smaller blanket they had before tossing the second over all three of you. Sal gently placed a pillow behind your head to maximize your comfort before turning and resting his back against the couch arm and looking at you quietly.  
  
“You okay to tell us what happened?” Sal spoke in such a soft tone it surprised you. Quietly scanning Sal’s mask for any movement indicating they were bothered was useless, so you turned to Larry. He looked tired, ready to pass out any moment, but forced his eyes open and smiled weakly at you as he patted your blanketed shoulder in comfort. A hot batch of tears burned their way back to your eyes, causing you to struggle to keep in control of your emotions. Despite knowing Sal for only so little, he was willing to come with Larry just to make sure you were okay through the rest of the night and it hurt your heart to know you could be blessed with such wonderful people.  
  
 Swallowing down the sobs forming in your throat, you managed to free your arms from the blanket burrito before beginning to explain to the two what’s been going on. The nightmares you could remember, the horrible ones that you couldn’t, the sweating, and the irregular sleep pattern. Sal looked at you quietly, watching as you explained all your problems to them. Though Larry was intent on telling you everything was fine, Sal barely caught himself from telling you about everything that’s happened up to this point before you’ve moved here and everything they’ve found out. He could see the little red marks and small bruises on the inside of your hands, the dark circles under your eyes which must have doubled in its shade since the last time he’s had the chance to get a good look at you, and the decrease in color of your skin. Had you been eating correctly? Drinking as much water as you should?  
  
 “Everything will be fine, we’ll even stay the night if it makes you feel better!” Larry’s voice had cut Sal off from his multiple questions running through his head. You had been unaware of his staring, too busy in telling your story and your feelings without sobbing like a baby. You smiled in reassurance, your tears now ones of relief as you leaned back, rejoicing in your head over the sudden stress being freed from your shoulders. Your brief inner party of happiness was soon cut quick when you remembered that Sal was currently apart of the group and you turned your attention towards him.  
  
 “Are you sure Sal is okay with staying? I would hate to invade his privacy by having him stay here and seeing his face in the morning,” you bit your tongue, knowing full well that sounded worse than how you thought it would sound, “what I’m trying to say is I don’t want to see his face without his permission! It would be awfully rude of me since we aren’t super close friends yet.”  
  
 Sal quietly gripped the blanket over his lap a bit tight as you spoke to Larry. He wasn’t hurt by your words, not at all! In fact, it made his chest flutter at the fact you were so thoughtful of him and his situation. Sal greatly feared that if you saw his face, it would ruin chances with you. What chances specifically? He wasn’t sure; he thought it wasn’t fair to like you right off the bat just for your looks, so starting as friends would be a good first step for him in order to get to know your personality. If being there for you through a night of anxiety, depression, and terrors were going to be one way of getting to know you then he had no problem staying.  
  
 “I’ll be fine, it won’t be a big deal at all. I can sleep with my mask on,” he spoke with a shrug. You looked over at him, a frown set deep on your lips as you stared into his blue eyes. This was a slightly uncomfortable first start, but you had to take chances before you missed them. As long as he could be there for you as a best friend, then that was all he was going to need.   
  
 Smiling in relief, you leaned back, adrenaline no longer pumping through your veins as you leaned back and slowly fell to one side, completely leaning on Larry while watching TV as you began to fade in and out of dream world. With a small laugh, Larry shoved you over onto Sal before finally getting in a comfortable enough position so he could sleep. Before you could really fall on Sal, you made sure to at least sit up a decent bit. Drowning out the rest of the world with cartoons and the comfort of your friends, you quietly held their hands, not looking at them, but simply enjoying the love and warmth of people you could lean on. As the beginning intro of the next cartoon began to start up, you finally zonked out, tilting your head back to rest on the couch and forgetting anything after that.  
  
 It had to have only been a matter of hours later that your parent/s woke up, seeing the mess of teens on the couch. They only smiled, giving each one of you a kiss on the forehead before preparing for work and then leaving for the day, writing a small message on a sticky note for you in the kitchen. The first to rise was Sal, slowly opening his eyes to the sight of the dark ceiling, and rays of sunlight filtering through one of the broken blinds in the window. He struggled to sit up, looking down only to see a mess of bodies in some weird form of Human Jenga and you sleeping comfortably in the pit of the couch beside him. You weren’t beautiful, your hair wasn’t perfect, and you didn’t wake up with fresh makeup on or anything like that. You didn’t look anything like movies or books had described in situations like this but even so, Sal was happy with what was next to him. He reached out, gently patting your head in a comforting gesture before pulling the blanket up a bit and somehow managing to roll over.  
  
Yeah, starting out as friends wouldn’t be too bad of a first step.


End file.
